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residing in the Mahāvihāra," And here in the Visuddhimagga: "I shall expound the Visuddhimagga, based on the method of teaching of those residing in the Mahāvihāra." [Visuddhi. 1.2] "By one who makes an exposition of its meaning, having descended into the circle of the Vibhajjavādins, not slandering the teachers, not transgressing one's own tradition, not interfering with other traditions, not rejecting the Suttas, because an explanation of the meaning should be made by conforming to the Vinaya, by looking at the great authorities, by illuminating the Dhamma, by gathering the meaning, and by repeating that very meaning, explaining it with other alternative methods. And this Dispensation is adorned with various methods of teaching; And the path of the former teachers continues unbroken; Therefore, relying on both of these, for the explanation of the meaning, I shall begin this. Having made a promise, the commentaries were made in the promised manner. Thus, the reason for their making should also be explained here. Therefore, now to explain that, starting from the time of the Perfectly Enlightened One's Parinibbāna up to the time of Acariya Buddhaghosa, we shall also speak of the sequence of the Dispensation's continuation. The Sequence of the Dispensation's Continuation Indeed, after the time of the Blessed One's Parinibbāna, within a hundred years, there was no division of views whatsoever in the Buddha's Dispensation. But at the time of the hundred years, the Vajjiputtaka bhikkhus, expelled by the Elders who held the Second Council, having gained a following, and having altered the Dhamma and Vinaya, held a separate council called the Mahāsaṅgīti. Then, the group of Elders who accepted only the ancient Dhamma and Vinaya established at the two councils was called Theravāda, and the others were called Mahāsaṅghika. Again, from the Mahāsaṅghika, two groups of teachers arose: (1) Gokulika (2) Ekabyohārika. Again, from the Gokulika, two arose: (3) Paññattivāda (4) Bāhulika (Bahussutika). Again, from the Bāhulika, (5) the Cetiyavāda group arose. Thus, these five, together with the fundamental Mahāsaṅghika, were six distinct groups of teachers. And from the pure Theravāda, two groups of teachers arose: (1) Mahisāsaka (2) Vajjiputtaka. Again, from the Mahisāsaka, two arose: (3) Sabbatthivāda (4) Dhammaguttika. Again, from the Sabbatthivāda, (5) Kassapiya, and from that, (6) Saṅkantika, and from that, (7) Suttavādī— these three arose. Vajjiputtaka, Dhammottariya, Bhaddayānika, Channāgārika, and Sammatiya – these four arose. Thus, these eleven, together with the original Visuddhattheravāda, were twelve schools of teachers. So, these twelve, and the former six, were eighteen schools of teachers that arose between the second and third councils. Among them, the original Theravāda school alone, being reverent towards the ancient Dhamma and Vinaya, maintained the complete, pure, ancient Dhamma and Vinaya without deficiency or excess. But the other seventeen divergent schools altered the ancient Dhamma and Vinaya. Therefore, their Dhamma and Vinaya was in some places deficient, in some places excessive, and thus incomplete and impure. Therefore, it is said in the fifth chapter of the Dīpavaṃsa: The wicked monks, the Vajjiputtakas, were expelled by the Elders. Gaining another faction, many were unrighteous speakers. Ten thousand gathered, and made a compilation of the Dhamma. Therefore, this compilation of the Dhamma is called the Mahāsaṅgīti (Great Council). The Mahāsaṅgītika monks acted contrary to the teaching. Breaking the original compilation, they made another compilation. They made a Sutta compiled elsewhere, and elsewhere they did it. They broke the meaning and the Dhamma, in the Vinaya and in the five Nikāyas... They broke the meaning and the Dhamma, and a part of the compilation. And a part of the text, they discarded and made another. Name, gender, requisites, conduct and duties, abandoning their original state, they made them otherwise. Seventeen were divergent schools, one school was undivergent. All together they are eighteen, with those of divergent views. Like a great Nigrodha tree, the Theravāda is the best of schools. Without deficiency, without excess, the complete teaching of the Victor. Like thorns on a tree, the remaining schools arose. In the first century, there were none, in the interval of the second century, seventeen divergent schools arose in the Victor's teaching. Eight. The Story of the Origin. In the time of King Asoka, the sectarians, whose gains and honors had declined, desiring gains and honors, ordained among the bhikkhus and expounded their own views, saying, "This is the Dhamma, this is the Vinaya, this is the Teacher's Dispensation." Even those who could not get ordination from the bhikkhus, themselves cut their hair, donned saffron robes, and wandered in the monasteries. At the time of performing Uposatha and other acts, they entered the midst of the Sangha. Though rebuked by the Sangha of bhikkhus according to Dhamma, Vinaya, and the Teacher's Dispensation, they did not settle in a practice conforming to Dhamma and Vinaya, but raised up various kinds of tumors, defilements, and thorns for the Dispensation. Some worshipped fire, some practiced austerities under the five fires, some followed the sun, some asserted things in such a way as to break up the Dhamma and Vinaya. Then the Sangha of bhikkhus did not perform Uposatha or Pavāraṇā with them. For seven years in Asoka's monastery, the Uposatha was suspended. And taking this event, it can also be understood thus: "The impurity of the Dhamma and Vinaya among the seventeen schismatic groups in later times was also due to such a cause." For although in the pure Dhamma-Vinaya, which is the Buddha's Dispensation, the meaning is very clear: "Nothing is permanent, stable, eternal, except the Nibbāna element; ultimately there is no self; all formations are impermanent, unstable, non-eternal, and non-self," yet now in the texts of the Theravādins and formerly among the Vetullavādins and others, the meaning is seen: "The Buddha is permanent, stable, eternal, self," and "All beings are permanent, stable, eternal, self." Then King Asoka, the Dhamma King, desiring to purify the Dispensation, first learned the doctrine from the Elder Moggaliputtatissa. He gathered together the bhikkhus of each single doctrine, making them one. having called that assembly of monks, he asked: "What does the Perfectly Self-Enlightened One teach, sirs?" Then, those who said: "The Perfectly Self-Enlightened One is an eternalist," or "a partial eternalist," or spoke other false doctrines according to their own views, he, knowing them to be "not these monks, these are other sectarians," gave them white clothes and expelled them. All of them were sixty thousand in number. Then, having asked other monks, and when they said: "The Perfectly Self-Enlightened One, great king, is an analyst," he said: "Now, sirs, the Dispensation is pure. Let the assembly of monks perform the Uposatha." And having given protection, he entered the city. The united Sangha assembled and performed the Uposatha. At that assembly, the Elder Moggaliputtatissa, in order to refute all the matters that had arisen then and those that would arise in the future, following the method given by the Teacher, expounding the matrix established by the Tathāgata, spoke the Kathāvatthu, the fifth treatise in the Abhidhamma Piṭaka, which crushes other doctrines. Then, a thousand Theravāda monks, led by the Elder Moggaliputtatissa, who were masters of the Tipiṭaka and had attained the analytical knowledges, re-recited the pure ancient Dhamma and Vinaya, which had been established in two recitations, and preserved it well. Then, the Elder Moggaliputtatissa selected and sent nine leading elders to establish the Dispensation in nine border regions. Among them, after eight elders had gone to their respective assigned places and established the Buddha's Dispensation, the Great Elder Mahinda, in the two hundred and thirty-sixth year of the Buddha's era, went from Jambudīpa to the island of Sihala, and having pleased the island's populace, led by King Devānaṃpiyatissa, established the Buddha's Dispensation. And having accepted the Mahāmeghavana park given by that king, he established there a monastery called Mahāvihāra. From that time on, the Buddha's Dispensation in the island of Sri Lanka shone forth, pure and perfectly clean, free from the confusion of sectarian doctrines, until the time of King Vaṭṭagāmaṇi. But from the time of King Vaṭṭagāmaṇi, sectarian doctrines also came to the island of Sri Lanka. At that time, the pure Theravādins preserved the ancient Dhamma and Vinaya with great effort, so that it would remain unmixed, undefiled, and naturally pure from those sectarian doctrines. How so? Origin of the Abhayagiri Nikāya King Vaṭṭagāmaṇi, having attained kingship (in the 425th year of the Buddha), after only five months, was harassed by the Brahmin Tissa and seven Damiḷa warriors, was defeated in battle, fled, and lived in hiding for more than fourteen years in a different guise. [Mahāvaṃsa, chapter 33, from verse 37 onwards]. At that time, the people in Laṅkādvīpa were afflicted by fear of robbers and fear of famine, and could not provide the four requisites for the bhikkhus. Therefore, most bhikkhus went from there to Jambudīpa and lived preserving the Dhamma and Vinaya. The elders who remained in Laṅkādvīpa, subsisting on whatever roots, tubers, and leaves they could find, sat down when they could carry their bodies and recited the Pariyatti Dhamma. When they could not carry them, they piled up sand, surrounded it, put their heads together in one place, and contemplated the Pariyatti. Thus, for twelve years, they preserved the Tepiṭaka with its commentaries, without losing anything. But when King Vaṭṭagāmaṇi, having slain the Damiḷa kings, ruled again